Conakry, Guinea, 11 June 2019: The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Guinea and the European Union convened a High Level Forum on Renewable Energy in Conakry, Guinea from 11 to 14 June 2019.

The main objective of the forum was to provide an opportunity for high-level decision makers and key stakeholders to exchange experiences of how to scale up investments in the renewable energy sector in Africa through a wide variety of actions, such as improving regulatory frameworks, supporting business developers, strengthening partnerships between the public and private sector; and addressing challenges related to sustainable energy in Africa. In addition, the forum aimed at exploring ways of reaching AREI’s targets of 10GW by 2020 and 300GW by 2030 through private sector investments.

Speaking at the forum, the African Union Commission Director for Infrastructure and Energy, Mr. Cheikh Bedda, observed that the Commission recognizes the enormous task of developing energy resources in Africa and he highlighted that providing energy services can best be achieved by creating a conducive business environment where both public and private sector can be involved. Such conducive business environment is possible through a clear, stable and predictable policy and regulatory framework supported by strong well capacitated institutions.

“Our biggest challenge has been how to address the persistent barriers to energy development on the continent including the technical, financial, markets, policy and regulatory barriers,” the Director noted.

He highlighted some of the programmes that the AUC has initiated including development of a Harmonised Regulatory Framework for the Electricity Market in Africa to create a vibrant electricity market on the continent; the Africa Bioenergy Programme that aims at developing the vast bioenergy resources in Africa through appropriate policy and strategic interventions; and the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF), which supports project developers to overcome early stage risks associated with geothermal development.

The Director expressed the AUC’s commitment to AREI and called upon development partners to continue supporting the initiative. He encouraged the private sector from Europe and other developed Nations to invest in the Africa energy sector. He welcomed the efforts of the EU-AU High Level Platform on Sustainable Energy Investments in Africa for called for the speedy operationalization of the guarantee fund announced during the launch of the Platform in November 2018.

The forum is expected to come up with recommendations on various issues affecting the renewable energy development in Africa such as business models, regulatory frameworks to boost investments in sustainable energy, the role of the private sector in achieving continental objectives in Renewable Energy, contributions of partners for AREI targets, the Role of Digitalization in the Future of Sustainable Energy in Africa and best practices of investments in Renewable Energy.

The Independent Delivery Unit of AREI in collaboration with the AUC and the Platform for Sustainable Energy Initiative will be responsible for following up on the recommendations and reaching out to various partners.

The forum brought together high level participants from Africa and Europe, and incorporates several interrelated events to discuss different elements of renewable energy investment in Africa. The events include, among others: Africa-Europe High Level Platform for Sustainable Energy Investments in Africa; AREI International Partners’ meeting and AREI Ministerial meeting in preparation of the Ordinary Board Meeting to be held in July 2019 on the sidelines of the AU Summit in Niamey, Niger.